Legislators, Students, and Faculty Rally to Demand Increased Funding of the UC and CSU

Wednesday, May 16, 2018

SACRAMENTO— Today, Assemblymember Jose Medina (D-Riverside) brought together students, faculty, and legislators to urge the governor to fully fund the UC and CSU. Despite on-going pressure from students, faculty, labor unions, and the State Legislature, Governor Brown failed to increase funding for the University of California (UC) and California State University (CSU) in the May Revision of the proposed budget.

“While we appreciate the $92.1 million investment into the CSU system, it still falls short of the CSU’s obligated costs, let alone the full $263 million budget request,” said Mia Kagianas, President, Cal State Student Association. “The Governor has stated that he does not want any more cost-burden to be put on student’s backs, but without additional funding from the state, we will be impacted by a severe reduction to critical campus services at a time when we are already struggling with the costs of college.”

“The CSU is intended to make public higher education a reality for all qualified students in California, who have been told their entire lives that if they work hard and get good grades, they will have a spot in our system. Instead, they are being denied that opportunity because the state has repeatedly refused to reinvest in the CSU,” said Jennifer Eagan, President of the California Faculty Association and a Professor at Cal State East Bay. “The economic future of our state depends on the CSU. We applaud Assemblymember Medina and his colleagues for fighting for additional funding and student enrollment in the People’s University.”

“Funding public education fully is the simply the morally right thing to do,” said John Rundin, Former President, UC-AFT Local 2023, UC Davis. “We have nothing if we do not have an educated citizenry. Moreover, it's an investment in our future. Education pays off in providing a more productive workforce that lifts our economy and increases tax revenues to the State of California. Education is a public good. It must be publicly supported.”

“The revised proposal falls drastically short of the funding needed to sustain our renowned universities,” said Assemblymember Jose Medina. “Failure to fully invest in our institutions of higher education hurts current students and also forces universities to turn away thousands of students who are qualified for admission. At a time when California's prosperity is the envy of the world, we must ensure that higher education – the engine that drives our economy – receives the full investment it so desperately needs.”